Fumes to Fuel

DEARBORN, MI — A Ford Motor Co. pilot project that uses paint fumes to generate electricity portends a safe return to solvent-based paints — coveted for superior performance and lower cost — the auto maker says.

Fumes-to-Fuel, a system undergoing tests in the paint shop of the auto maker's Dearborn Assembly Plant, collects volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from solvent-based clear-coat emissions. Currently, these compounds are incinerated.

After collection, the VOCs are concentrated into hydrocarbon, from which hydrogen is extracted. The hydrogen is then fed into a fuel cell that generates 5 kw of electricity — enough to power an average home.

So if the system proves robust enough for widespread rollout, it portends a return to broader applications for solvent-based products — the use of which are currently restricted for environmental reasons.

“Because now, all of a sudden, the volatiles — which is the reason you go to water-based — are a good thing,” says Tim O'Brien, Ford vice president-corporate relations.

How good? Ford projects potential savings in energy consumption, capital expenditure and manufacturing costs.

Precisely how much money might be saved by Fumes-to-Fuel is among the data Ford hopes to derive from its testing.

“I know what it costs us to deal with emissions at a facility like this, in conventional terms,” O'Brien says. “We're talking in the tens of millions of dollars.”

When the test enters its second phase next year with the installation of a 100-kw system, projections call for Dearborn's paint shop to save at least $100,000 — half from reduced natural gas consumption.

If all its Michigan paint shops were to use Fumes-to-Fuel, Ford's natural gas consumption — primarily because of incinerator redundancy — could be reduced by 300 million cu. ft. (8.5 million cu. meters) annually.

Ford also stands to benefit on the manufacturing front because solvent-based finishes require less oven time. Then there's the issue of build quality — solvent-based finishes produce a more desirable appearance.

But what happens during down time? Does the juice stop flowing?

No need to get wired, says Ford's Mark Wherrett, Fumes-to-Fuel project leader and principal environmental engineer. The fuel cell can be powered by natural gas.

Fumes-to-Fuel is the result of a collaboration between Ford, Detroit Edison and Canada-based Fuel Cell Technologies. Detroit Edison holds the patent, but Ford stands to collect a share of the royalties if the technology proliferates, O'Brien says.

It has potential applications wherever solvents are used, insiders say — from printing to dry cleaning.

Too bad it wasn't online in time for the blackout of 2003.